Collapsible core for concrete pipes.



C. F. MASSEY.

GOLLAPSIBLB GORE PoR CONCRETE PIPBS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 30, 1913.

1,101,204-, Patented June 23, 1914.

@Nidi STATE PATENT @FFME CHARLES F. MASSEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO C. F. MASSEY COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

COLLAPSIBLE CORE FOR CONCRETE PIPES.

1 ,i oi .soa

T all whom it may vol/mera Be it known that I, CHARLES F. MAssEY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of 5 Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collapsible Cores for Concrete Pipes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to cores for cont) crete pipes and contemplates improved features of construction, arrangement and operation. Heretofore in the manufacture of `concrete pipes sectional cores were used, these cores being set up piece by piece and fitted together in a mold, concrete or cement then poured in, and the core sections then removed piece by piece after setting of the cement. More or less difficulty was experienced in accurately fitting the core parts together and a great deal of time was consumed in building up and in withdrawing the core.

Among the important objects of my invention are therefore to provide a core in the form of a unitary structure which can be quickly and readily inserted in a mold and withdrawn therefrom; to provide a core of sheet metal and to provide improved means for automatically expanding the core 80 when inserted in the mold and to cause collapse thereof and withdrawal from the formed concrete pipe upon withdrawal movement of the core; more in detail to provide a core in the form of .a sheet metal shell bent to cylindrical form and to provide wedge mechanism for cooperating with the ends of the shell and to provide improved toggle mechanism automatically controlled upon insertion of a core in a mold to cause a wedge to be forced between'the shell ends, and to be withdrawn from said ends upon extraction of the core to allow collapse of the core; to provide locking mechanism for positively locking the shell ends in expanded position while the cement material is being poured and worked in; and in general to provide a simple yet etiicient collapsible core which may be used in the construction of concrete pipes in a factory or which can be used for progressive building of conduit or pi ing directly in the trenches where such con( uit or piping is to be used.

In the accompanying drawings which -51S show the various features of the invention Specification of Letters Patent.

Application led January 30. 1913.

v Patented June 23, 191s.

serien No. 745,054.

Figure 1 is a vertical elevational view of a molding structure showing the core and mold frames in vertical diametral section, and showing. 'the wedging mechanism in alternate position in dotted lines; Fig. 2 is 6o a plan View of the molding structure when the core is fully expanded; Fig. 3 is a plan view of the core structure showing the relative positions of the parts just after withdrawal of the wedge from between the core e6 shell ends; and Fig. 4t is an enlarged sectional view taken on plane 4--4f,-Fig. 1.

The core is in the form of a shell 10 of preferably boiler plate bent into circular or elliptical form as shown. Running full 7C length of the ends of the shell and secured thereto as by riveting or welding are the angle bars 11 and 1Q, these bars being secured to the inner side of the shell with their flanges 11 and 1Q extending in- 75 wardly. Preferably running full length of the shell and secured to the inner side thereof between its ends is a T-bar 13 whose web 18 extends radially inwardly. For controllingA expansion and collapse of the core toggle actuated wedge mechanism is provided, the Wedge being in the forni of a channel beam 14 is caused by toggle mechanism to be forced between the flanges 11 and 12 of the angle bars. thus expanding 85 the shell, the flanges 11 and 12 being preferably deflected outwardly a distance so that` the wedge channel can more readily enter between the flanges. A plurality of toggle link sets T are provided connected at intervals with the wedge channel, each set comprising a link l5 pivoted at its outer end to the web 13 of the T-bar and a companion link 16 pivoted to a lugl 1T extending inwardly from the web of the wedge channel. The inner ends of the links of each set are pivoted together and to a toggle bar 18 extending centrally full length of the shell. When this bar is raised the wedge channel is moved toward the T-bar and is withdrawn 10C from between the angle bars so that the shell ends may come together, and when the toggle bar is moved downwardly and the links of the sets are brought into parallelism the wedge channel is again forced between the angle bars and the shell expanded.

Referring toFig. l, 19 represents a mold frame. with which the core coperates to form the mold for receiving the concrete material. This mold frame is constructed 11G for casting culvert pipes, its lower end being expanded to form a joint flange. This mold frame is set on a suitable foundation 21 about the lower flange 22a of a ring 22 set on the foundation. The core shell is then lowered through the mold frame to rest on the foundation with its lower end within thering The toggle bar 18 is preferably provided with an eye 23 at its upper end so that it may be readily suspended from a crane. lVhen the core shell is thus suspended, the weight of the shell will cause collapse of the toggle members so that the shell ends are free, as indicated in dotted lines in the figures, and when the shell comes to rest on the foundation the toggle bar is then forced downwardly to actuate the toggle members to insert the wedge channel between the shell ends. The foundation preferably forms a si op for the toggle bar when the toggle members have become fully expanded. In this position the pivot centers of the toggle members of a set will be in alinement and the toggle sets will be thus self-locked in expanded posit-ion. The ring 22 with its flange 22"L besides serving as an abutment for the mold frame and core shell, acts also as a core to form the abutment shoulder 24 and the joint flange 25 in the pipe which is cast in the mold. After the core shell has thus been inserted and expanded, the concrete or other cement material 26 is poured in and the pipe formed. If desired suitable metallic reinforcing material may beinserted between the core and mold frame before pouring.

After the poured material becomes sufliciently set the core shell is withdrawn. The bar 18 is rst drawn outwardly, and as the links 15 of the toggle sets are anchored to the shell, the toggle links when swung upwardly by the rising toggle bar will cause movement of the bar toward the T-bar 13 and withdrawal of the wedge channel 14 from the shell ends, the shell being then free to collapse so that upon further upward movement of the toggle bar the shell will follon7 and .will be withdrawn. The shell will, however, stick more or less to the cement surface and in order to forcibly withdraw the shell from the cement pipe before the shell is raised, sets of chains or cables 27 and 28 are anchored to the toggle bar. by means of clevises 29 and connected at their outer ends to lugs 30 and 31 secured to the core shell adjacent its ends. The connection of each set of chains with the toggle bar isa distance below the connections of the4 chains with the shell when the toggle members are expanded so that when the toggle bar is raised the chains will be slack for a period and will not exert pull on the shell ends until the toggle bar has been raised sufficiently to effect withdrawal of the wedge channel from between the shell ends (see during, the. pouring operation.

Fig. 3.) Upon further upward movementfree of the mold its shell will be fully collapsed and it can be readily inserted into another mold frame and into the ring 22 on the foundation. After removal of the core structure the mold frame can also be removed and the finished pipe taken from the foundation.

It is important that the other face of the channel wedv'e register accuratel f with the outersurfaee of the shell when the core is expanded as otherwise it might be impossible to collapse the core after the molding operation and the pipe would not be accurate. In order to assure proper alinement, s top members 32 are provided at in tei-vals on the wedge channel,` these stop frames being of Ushape andhaving their vokes riveted or otherwise secured' to the inner face of the channel and having the ends turned outwardly to form hooks 33 for engaging about the inner edges of the {ianges 11 and 12 of the angle bars as soon as the outer face of the channel comes into register with the outer surface of the shell.

Overthrow of the channels by the togglel members is thus prevented. The hook ends 3o also prevent over-expansion of the shell. As a further precaution against relative displacement between the shell ends and the wedge channel locking pins 34 are provided for engaging in holes 35 and 36 in the flanges 11 and 12 respectively to abut against the inner edges of the wedge channel flanges, the angle bars 11 and 12 and therefore the shell ends being thereby prevented from outward displacement relative to the wedge channel. In the smaller sized core structures such pins may not be necessary but in the sizes which are large enough to allow entrance of a workman such pins are preferably used to prevent displacement and they can readily be inserted in place after the toggle members have been expand` ed so that the shell will be absolutely rigid Y After the pouring operation the pins are withdrawn and the shell is then free to be collapsed and withdrawn from the mold. I thus provide an all metalliccore structure which can be quickly inserted and withdrawn from a mold frame and which is automatically expanded when inserted in the mold frame and automatically collapsed upon withdrawal therefrom, the toggle mechanisms exerting powerful force to operate the wedge member and the chains positively eflll* of the duct applied thereto. Then when one A length of .concrete becomes sufficiently set the core will be collapsed by pull on the toggle bar vand can be shifted forwardly over the next section of foundation and the next side and top duct'section formed, and so on, the duct being built u`p progressively.

I do not desire to be limited to the exact construction, arrangement. and operation shown and described as changes and modifications are no dubt possi-blc which would still come within the scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim the following:

1. In a collapsible core, the combination of a sheet metal shell bent intosubsta-ntially circular form to bring its ends in opposition, a wedge bar within the shell and parallel with said ends, toggle links pivoted at their outer ends toI said shell substantially midway between its ends, companion toggle links pivoted at their outer ends to said wedge bar, a toggle bar extending into said shell, the inner ends of said toggle links being pivoted'to said toggle bar whereby upon movement of said bar saidl toggle links are actuated to insert the wedge bar between the shell ends or to `withdraw said bar from said ends, and pull chains connected to said bar and shell ends for efectingradial pull on said ends after said toggle bar has been moved a distance'to effect withdrawal of said wedge bar from said ends.

of a metallic shell bent into substantially cylindrical form with its ends in opposition, wedge flanges extending inwardly from said ends, a wedge member in the form of a channel bar arranged within said shell with its flanges extending inwardly, a toggle bar extending into said shell, toggle links conncting with said toggle bar and with the shell substantially mid-way of its ends, companion toggle links connecting with said toggle bar and with said wedge member, hookextensionsv from said wedge member for engaging about the Ainner edges of said wedge flan es to limit the outward movement of sald wedge member between said flanges. l

3. In a collapsible core, the combination of a metallic shell bent into substantially cylindrical form with its ends in opposition, wedge flanges extending inwardly from said ends, a wedge member in the form of a channel bar arranged within said shell with its flanges extending inwardly, means for forcing said wedge member between the wedge flanges to spread the shell, hook extens1ons from said wedge member for engaging about the inner edges of said wedge flanges to limit the outward movement of the wedge member betweensaid flanges, the opposed wedge Aflanges having openings, and locking pins extendin through opposite holes and abutting against the inner edges of the wedge member to prevent inward movement of said wedge member after outward movement thereof between said wedge flanges, said hook extensions and pins cooperating to hold the outer face of the wedge member in alinement'with the outer surface of the shell.

In .wit-ness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 20th day of January, 1913. CHARLES F. MASSEY. Witnesses:

A. P. CHRIST, C. J. SCHMIDT. 

